


Bygone Days

by IcyPheonix



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Fluff, Gen, it's basically 8k of Yusaku as a smol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-19 22:12:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18979357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcyPheonix/pseuds/IcyPheonix
Summary: Yusaku wishes he could enjoy playing Duel Monsters the way everyone else does, the way he used to.But that's the thing about wishes, you have to be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.Or, a fic where Yusaku winds up as a 6 year old again.Originally intended for the 'Let's Make Yusaku Smile' event but it took SO long to finish that it's, kinda late. Oops.





	Bygone Days

**Author's Note:**

> The Natsume Yuujinchou episode/chapter The Days Eater is one of my favourites. So I decided to do that, but with Yusaku instead. Let him have a day of fun as a kid again. He more than deserves it

Yusaku sighed, stretching his arms over his head as he leaned back in his chair, his dummy deck sitting on his desk. He’d have liked to have left it as it was, but the Duel Club had decided they were going to actually duel for once and Yusaku had found himself unable to worm his way out of it. So he decided to put a little bit of work into the deck so it didn’t look like he’d just grabbed a structure deck off the shelf and called it a day.

Yusaku just wished that he could actually enjoy duelling, that way when the day came he could actually have fun. Everyone else was going to be having fun, but ever since the Lost Incident it seemed as if he’d lost the ability to actually enjoy duelling.

It should have been fun, it looked fun especially when other people were laughing and smiling while playing. And yet he just couldn’t do it, couldn’t bring himself to have fun, couldn’t have fun period.

He could fake it, probably, he hoped he’d at least be able to fake it or else they were going to get suspicious.

A yawn worked its way free, a sure sign that it was time for him to turn in.

Maybe one day he’d be able to have fun playing duel monsters again. Maybe.

 

When Ai awoke from his slumber the first thing he noticed was that it was really quiet in the apartment. Like, really, really quiet.

That wasn’t to say that Yusaku was all that noisy normally, but Ai was used to waking up hearing Yusaku moving around and grumbling to himself (he was barely a human before his morning coffee), the sound of the coffee maker as it ran or the sound of Yusaku snoring if he hadn’t gotten out of bed yet.

But there was nothing, the only thing he could hear was the sound of Roboppy’s motor running as she rolled about the apartment.

Stretching out he looked around, had Yusaku left already? Not that couldn’t be it, after all he was still in the apartment, which meant Yusaku hadn’t taken the duel disk anywhere. And he always took it with him.

“Yusaku? You here? You alive?”

“Master is still in bed,” chirped Roboppy as she stopped in front of the desk.

“Really? That lazy bones.” Ai huffed and shook his head. “Hey sleepy head time to wake up!”

“Hmm?” The bed covers shifted and rolled aside as Yusaku sat up, yawning as he stretched his arms over his head.

Ai blinked, that was definitely Yusaku sitting there in all his half awake, dishevelled glory but something was different.

“Yusaku?”

Yusaku turned to look at him, rubbing his eyes sleepily, too long pajama sleeves falling over his hands. “Whoizit?” he asked.

The green eyes, the blue and pink hair, the pajamas now several sizes too big. Yeah it was Yusaku alright, except he wasn’t 16 years old any more, he looked closer to 6.

Ai was pretty sure that aging only went one way for humans, and it wasn’t backwards. He was also pretty sure that morning coffee wasn’t going to fix this, whatever this was exactly.

For a moment Yusaku stared at him, green eyes sleepy but curious.

“What are you?” he finally asked, pointing at Ai.

“What? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten me, your bestest buddy Ai?”

Yusaku cocked his head curiously as he studied Ai. “Nope, don’t know you,” he announced as he crawled off the bed.

“Do you remember Kusanagi-san?”

“Who?”

“The hot dog man!”

He gave Ai an incredulous look before shaking his head. “Nope.”

“Takeru? Aoi? Specter? Ryoken? Please tell me you remember Ryoken.”

Yusaku shook his head before crawling into the chair at the desk. “Uh-uh, who are they?”

Ai wilted with a depressed sigh, hanging his head, it didn’t seem like Yusaku could remember anything, or at least anyone.

“What do you remember?” asked Ai. “Do you at least know who you are?”

“Of course I do, I’m Yusaku Fujiki, and I’m 6 years old,” he said. “So what are you supposed to be?” he asked, poking Ai curiously. “You’re so squishy.”

“I’m...I’m Ai, a duel AI, a really new one, and I’m yours Yusaku.”

“Whoa.”

Spotting the deck, Yusaku reached across and grabbed it quickly “Do you play Duel Monsters too?” he asked, shoving the deck in Ai’s face. “Will you play with me?”

Before Ai could respond there was a knock on the front door.

“Hey Yusaku, you ready to go?”

Yusaku froze as he looked towards the door and Ai patted his hand gently. “Hey, I got this, don’t worry.” The duel disk’s base transformed into a drone as Ai took off, flying towards the door. “Oi Takeru, you’ll have to let yourself in, we have a bit of a, situation at the moment.”

“A situation?” asked Takeru as he opened the front door. “Is Yusaku alright?”

Ai rubbed the back of his head, “I mean, I think so. He’s not hurt if that’s what you mean, he’s just...well, see for yourself.”

Takeru followed him to the top of the stairs and Ai pointed to Yusaku, who was sitting in the chair at his desk, looking through the cards in his deck.

“It that…?”

“Yes.”

“Is he…?”

“Yes.”

“How? Why?”

“How should I know? He was fine when he went to bed last night,” said Ai. “I don’t know why he changed, or how.”

Yusaku glanced up and waved, at them. “Are you going to play Duel Monsters with me?” he asked.

“Maybe later,” replied Takeru before turning back to Ai. “What do we do?” he asked. “He can’t come to school like this.”

Ai was thoughtful for a moment, rubbing his chin as he scrunched his face up. “I know, we’ll take him to Kusanagi! He has a little brother after all, he probably knows how to look after little kids.”

“But he’s working.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

Takeru sighed, “To Kusanagi-san’s it is then. But first, does he have any clothes that actually fit now?”

 

“So where are we going again?” asked Yusaku, looking up at Takeru as they walked down the road, Yusaku holding his hand tightly.

“To see Kusanagi, the hot dog man,” said Ai, peeking out from Yusaku’s small backpack.

They’d had to do some digging to find some clothes that would fit Yusaku in a now very small state, as Ai had only ever seen him in a couple outfits including his pajamas. Luckily for them, Yusaku had a tendency to hold onto things even if he didn’t need them any more, and they found where he’d stored some old clothes. They were still a little big on him, but at least he didn’t look like he was swimming in them anymore.

They stuffed his duel disk into a backpack, as it was a little bit to big for him to wear, along with his deck, as he insisted on bringing it with him.

It was decided that they would take him to Kusanagi, if anyone could figure out what to do it would be him.

“Why do you call him the hot dog man?”

“Cause he sells hot dogs, obviously,” said Ai a matter of factly. “He has a truck and everything.”

Yusaku held onto Takeru’s hand tightly, occasionally stealing a peek over at Flame.

“Is that a duel AI too?” he asked, pointing at the fire Ignis. “Cause it looks just like mine.”

“Huh, oh you mean Flame? Yeah, I guess that’s one way to describe him. He’s also my friend. I’ll show you the others later if you want.”

“A friend huh?”

 

Kusanagi had seen his fair share of unusual things, from sentient AIs to all manner of late night and early morning customers, so he was pretty sure he was prepared for just about anything at this point. He was not however, prepared to see Takeru walking towards him, with a 6 year old Yusaku in tow. At first he thought he was still asleep, because there was no way that was right, at all. Then he wondered if maybe it was someone’s sibling, or a lost child that just happened to resemble Yusaku. But all those ideas were promptly thrown out the window when heard Ai’s voice from within the backpack.

“What do we do with him?” asked Takeru. “I can’t bring him to school with me, just look at him.” He gestured to Yusaku, who’d crawled into a chair at one of the tables. “We were hoping you could, I don’t know, look after him for us for a bit.”

Kusanagi sighed, running a hand through his hair, as far as he was only barely qualified to be a babysitter.

“Well first things first, we need to call the school and let them know Yusaku’s not coming to school today,” he said, digging in his pocket for his phone. Yusaku had given him the school number before, after all he’d listed the man as his emergency contact, but this was the first time he’d ever had to actually use it.

“But what are you going to tell them?” asked Takeru. “I don’t think they’re going to believe this.”

“Simple, I’ll just say Yusaku’s out sick. But you however, still need to go to school, no skipping.”

While he was making the call, Takeru turned his attention back to Yusaku.

“I have to go to school now Yusaku, so, think you’ll be alright till I get back?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I don’t think he’s paying attention,” said Ai. “At least not to you.”

Takeru laughed weakly. “Yeah it seems so. Well I’ll see the two of you later then.”

“So are you going to play Duel Monsters with me or not?” asked Yusaku with a pout, poking Ai again.

“I would but I can’t do that here. And you’re too young to go into Link VRAINS for us to duel.”

“What’s VRAINS?”

“It’s...why don’t you ask Kusanagi? He might duel you.”

Yusaku’s eyes widened and grabbing his deck, he hopped down and trotted over to the front of the truck, where Kusanagi was currently cleaning and preparing for the day.

“Hey, Oji-san, will you duel with me?” asked Yusaku, holding his deck out towards Kusanagi.

Kusanagi blanched as he looked down at Yusaku. “Did-did you just call me ‘oji-san’? I am not old.”

“Duel me! I wanna play but I can’t do it alone.”

Kusanagi sighed and ran a hand through his hair, while he could keep an eye on Yusaku while working, he couldn’t duel him while he was working, maybe on his lunch break but not yet.

“Fine, one duel. After that, how about a hot dog? You like those don’t you Yusaku?”

 

“So, did did he say what this was all about?” asked Specter, hands in his jacket pockets as he and Ryoken made their way down the street.

Ryoken shook his head. “No, Shoichi was rather vague, something about calling in the favour we owed him and to just come down to the plaza where the truck was.”

“I see, so it’s a mystery then is it. You don’t suppose we’re going to get roped into working are we?”

“I doubt it, he asked me to bring my deck.” Ryoken frowned, it had been such a strange request, Shoichi had specifically requested that Ryoken bring his deck before suggesting Specter come too and that he should bring his deck as well, the more the merrier he’d said. Ryoken had tried to press him for information but he wouldn’t budge and just said that he would explain when they got there.

Luckily they weren’t doing anything but still, Ryoken would have liked to have known why he needed their help.

He really hoped it had nothing to do with running the truck.

 

“Ah, Ryoken good you came, and I see you actually brought Specter, wonderful.” Shoichi clapped his hands together happily, grinning at the sight of them as they approached the truck. “I have a very important job for the two of you. Especially you Ryoken.”

“The one you called us up for?”

He nodded, “Yes that one.” Shoichi pointed to the table in front of the truck, and the small child sitting at it, quietly munching away on a hot dog. “I need you to keep an eye on him.”

“Babysitting? You want us to babysit? Who even left you in charge of a child anyways?”

“Hey, I am a perfectly capable babysitter,” he said, pointing the tongs at Ryoken. “It’s just right now is not the best time and I need some extra hands.”

Ryoken opened his mouth to protest but stopped as Specter cleared his throat. “Sir, before you turn down this job, you might want to see the kid first. I think you’ll find this interesting.”

“What could possibly be interesting about…” Ryoken trailed off as he turned to look at the kid, who’d also turned his head to look at them, ketchup and mustard smeared across the side of his mouth and a fully loaded hot dog in one hand. His voice died in his throat at the sight of the wide, childish green eyes that met his gaze. “Yusaku?” he squeaked. “How?”

Shoichi shrugged, “No idea. Now please, at least duel him so I can get some work done. I can watch him while I work but he really wants to duel someone.”

Ryoken sputtered as he looked between Shoichi and Yusaku, barely able to believe what he was seeing.

“Ohh, how kind of you to join us Ryo-chan, Spec-chan. Spec-chan? Hm I’ll have to work on that one,” said Ai, lifting himself slightly out of the duel disk.

“How did this happen?” asked Ryoken.

Ai shrugged, “No idea, just woke up and he was like this. Doesn’t remember anything either. Not even me.”

Ryoken frowned, Yusaku didn’t remember anything, not even them? Did that mean he didn’t remember the Lost Incident either?

Wordlessly, Ryoken made his way around the table to sit across from Yusaku, who was watching him closely, eyes wide and curious.

“Yusaku I-”

“Are you an angel?”

“W-what?” Ryoken sputtered and just about missed the seat as he sat down, quickly grabbing the table and the chair before he fell on the ground. “Wh-where did you get that idea.”

Yusaku pointed at him, “You’re white and fluffy, and angels are white and fluffy.”

Specter chuckled softly behind his hand while Shoichi was biting back a laugh from inside the hotdog truck.

“Yes, he is undoubtedly an angel,” said Specter with a playful smile. “The most perfect angel there is.”

“Specter!” Ryoken’s cheeks flared red as he glared at the tall man through his fingers, face in his hands.

“What? Look at it this way sir, at least it means he likes you.”

Ryoken sighed and supposed he should be grateful that Yusaku had reacted to them as well as he had rather than running off screaming or something. Despite his, regressed state, Yusaku seemed to be alright in every other aspect, bright eyed and excited, talkative and friendly. His heart twisted, was this what he’d been like before the Lost Incident had happened to him? Ryoken wondered if Yusaku would still have been like this, had the incident not happened. That was, a sobering thought to be sure.

It soon became apparent why Shoichi had asked them to bring their decks, he was right, Yusaku really wanted to duel against someone and in no time had convinced Ryoken to duel him.

The first duel was heavily lopsided as Ryoken had brought his regular deck and it soon became apparent that the deck Yusaku had was not his regular one, not even close. Which begged the question why he had it in the first place.

As if reading his thoughts Ai spoke up. “It’s his dummy deck for school. He was working on it last night before, this happened,” he gestured to Yusaku. “His regular one is still at home.”

“I summon Mirage Dragon!” Yusaku slapped the card down on the table triumphantly. “Now you can’t use Mirror Force again.” He looked smug as he grinned at Ryoken, proud with himself for having shut down his traps.

A gust of wind suddenly cut through and grabbed Yusaku’s card, whisking it away on the breeze. “Ah, come back Mirage Dragon!” yelped Yusaku, leaping out of his seat to try and grab his card.

Ryoken made a grab for him, but missed by mere inches and before he could stop him, Yusaku had taken off, chasing the errant Duel Monster card across the plaza.

“Well you’d better go get him, we can’t have him running off, he might get lost,” said Specter, resting his chin in the palm of his hand and making a shooing motion with the other hand.

“You’re coming too,” said Ryoken, grabbing him by the collar and dragging Specter with him as he took off after Yusaku.

Yusaku panted as he chased after the card, the wind always seemed to keep it just out of reach. Finally, the card got caught on a small wall, allowing Yusaku to grab it.

“There you are, now let’s get...back.” Yusaku looked around and frowned, he didn’t recognize anything, and with so many people around he couldn’t tell which way he’d come or where the truck was.

He swallowed hard, he couldn’t have gotten that far away, surely the truck was close by right? Right?

“Kusanagi-san? Kogami-san? Where’d they go? Where am I?”

Yusaku held his card close as he slowly made his way through the crowd, fighting back tears of fear. He was lost, very, very lost. A tiny whimper escaped him as his eyes began to water. He was lost and alone and scared.

“Yusaku, there you are!”

Tiny tears clung to the corner of his eyes as he looked up to see Ryoken standing in front of him, looking a little bit winded.

“Don’t run off like that on us. Yusaku?”

Yusaku sniffed before practically throwing himself as Ryoken, tiny arms wrapping around his legs as he held him tightly.

“I think someone got a little lost,” said Specter.

“Come on, why don’t we go back?”

“O-ok,” sniffed Yusaku, quickly wiping his eyes with one hand. He released his grip on Ryoken’s legs and quickly grabbed his hand.

Yusaku was quiet as they walked, Ryoken on one side of him and Specter on the other.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like to hold my hand too?” asked Specter, holding a hand out.

Yusaku tightened his grip on Ryoken’s hand and squished himself closer.

Ryoken grinned, “I’m afraid I’m the favourite Specter.”

Specter huffed and let his hand fall back at his side.

“...do I really have friends?” asked Yusaku quietly.

“Yusaku?”

“Homura-san, Kusanagi-san, Ai, they all said they were my friends. And Kusanagi-san said you were my friends as too. But, I’ve never had friends. Are you really my friends?” he asked, looking up at Ryoken.

“Of course you have friends Yusaku. You’re even friends with Miss Zaizen if I recall.”

Yusaku blanched and looked at him with a horrified expression. “But, but girls have cooties!”

Specter stifled a snort of laughter behind his hand. “Oh I agree with you wholeheartedly.”

“Specter you’re not helping,” hissed Ryoken. He turned back to Yusaku, “I promise Yusaku, you do have friends.”

Yusaku was quiet, looking thoughtful as he looked over at Specter then back at Ryoken. “Is he my friend too?” he asked finally.

Ryoken looked him up and down, Specter giving him a hopeful look. “Well he’s something, I don’t know about friend, but…” he trailed off. “He is a friend yes.”

“Oh, ok. He’s still weird though.”

Ryoken laughed, “Yes, I suppose he is.”

Specter placed a hand over his heart in mock hurt, “You wound me sir, and whose side are you on anyways? Mine or his?”

“For now, his. And look, we’re back at the truck already.”

“Can we finish our duel now?” asked Yusaku. “I got my card back!”

 

“Are you ever going to tell me what’s going on?” asked Aoi as she followed Takeru. “You’ve been, vague all day.”

“That’s because if I tell you, you won’t believe me, you’ll just have to see for yourself.”

“Homura-kun, what could possibly be more unbelievable than Fujiki-kun being Playmaker?”

He rubbed the back of his head, “You’re gonna think I’ve gone crazy, or lying, or both.”

“Try me.”

Takeru sighed, he’d managed to go all day without telling her the real reason Yusaku hadn’t come to school, but he couldn’t just pass up the chance to have her actually see him as he was. He just doubted very much that she would believe ‘Yusaku is somehow a 6 year old’. It sounded crazy even to him and he HAD seen Yusaku.

“Yusaku, isn’t really sick today,” he said, turning around as he walked so that he was walking backwards.

“So he cut class?”

“Not exactly. He couldn’t come, but it’s not because he was sick.”

“Is he hurt?”

“No! No he was fine he’s just…” Takeru sighed again. “Promise you’ll believe me?”

Aoi rolled her eyes, “Homura-kun, how weird can it possibly be?”

“Very. Now please, you have to promise not to call me a liar or anything.”

“Fine I promise, now will you please tell me what is going on with Fujiki-kun?”

“He’s six.”

She stared at him silently for a moment before, “What?”

“Six, he’s six years old. Or, I suppose he’s back to being a six year old.”

Aoi narrowed her eyes accusingly as she stared at him, “Are you messing with me?”

“I swear to god I’m not,” stammered Takeru, holding his hands out in front of him. “Honest, ask Aqua she can tell you I’m telling the truth.”

“She’s with Miyu-chan remember?”

Takeru groaned, how could he have forgotten that Miyu and Aoi were effectively sharing custody of the blue Ignis, and this time it was Miyu’s turn.

“Then we need to hurry to get to Kusanagi-san’s so I can prove I’m telling the truth.”

They practically raced the rest of the way there, Takeru determined to prove to Aoi that he was in fact telling truth about Yusaku. No way was he letting himself be made a fool of like this.

As the truck came into view however it soon became clear to Takeru that there was a significant hitch in the plan. Yusaku was nowhere in sight.

The truck was there, as was Kusanagi, busy working away at the grill, as customers came and went with varying frequency, and Specter and Ryoken sat at one of the tables, but Yusaku was nowhere in sight, not the 6 year old version of him nor the 16 year old version.

Takeru paused, why were Specter and Ryoken there? They had not been there when he’d left. They weren’t the reason Yusaku was gone were they?

Clutching his bag he bounded across the plaza, looking around and trying to see if he could spot Yusaku, at either age, anywhere.

It was strange though, despite Yusaku being mysteriously absent, no one looked particularly worried.

“Kusanagi-san!” Takeru called out, getting the man’s attention. “Wh-where’s Yusaku?”

“I’m glad to see you too,” laughed Kusanagi. “Oh, Aoi hello.” He gave a polite nod in her direction.

“Kusanagi-san, where Yusaku?” asked Takeru.

Kusanagi jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “He’s taking a nap back here, I think Ryoken and Specter managed to wear the poor thing out.” He opened the back of the truck and gestured for them to come in.

Yusaku was curled up at the far end of the truck on a heap of blankets and a pillow, his duel disk sitting beside his head and Ai keeping an apparent watch over him. Kusanagi’s jacket was draped over him like a blanket.

“Oh my god, you were serious,” whispered Aoi. “He’s so, small.”

Kusanagi laughed and Ai raised a finger in a shushing motion. “Well, he is six,” he said, lowering his voice so as not to wake him.

Yusaku’s only response was to roll slightly in his sleep, hand knocking the duel disk off the pillow in the process. It clattered on the floor of the truck and Yusaku’s eyes fluttered softly and he mumbled as he sat up, stretching his arms.

“How was the nap sleepy head?” asked Ai, attempting to right the duel disk even from within it.

“Oh, Homura-san, you’re back!” He tossed the blanket aside and bounded across the truck to Takeru, getting about halfway before he stopped and doubled back to grab his duel disk.

“I even brought Zaizen-kun with me too,” said Takeru, indicating to Aoi.

Yusaku froze and his eye grew wide as he caught sight of her. “But, but she has cooties!” he shrieked. “You’re gonna get cooties!”

Kusanagi stifled a snort of laughter behind his hand as he looked away, while Takeru and Aoi stuttered about.

Aoi recovered first, clearing her throat and giving Takeru a playful smack on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, he’s been vaccinated against them already,” she said.

Yusaku gave her a skeptical look, as if he wasn’t quite sure that he believe her. But slowly he made his way towards them. “What about me? I’m not gonna get’em am I?”

“Naw, I think you’re safe,” said Aoi. “Because, you’re vaccinated against them too.” She reached over and poked his forehead lightly.

Yusaku reached up and felt around at his head before looking back at Aoi, studying her carefully. “You have Aqua right? Is she around? I wanted to meet her.”

“How do you know about Aqua?” asked Takeru.

“Ai told me. He showed me the rest of his friends.” Yusaku giggled. “Windy looked like a booger though.”

Takeru choked back a laugh and Aoi just shook her head. “Sorry, Aqua’s not here today.”

“You know, now that he’s awake, why don’t you take him to the park? There’s one just down the road I think he’ll like,” said Kusanagi, tossing the cloth was he using over one shoulder. “Just make sure to bring him back before dark, I’ll see to it that he gets home safely.”

Yusaku’s eyes widened, “A park? What’s at the park? Are there swings? A jungle gym? A slide?”

Kusanagi just grinned mischievously, “I guess you’ll just have to go and find out.”

With a happy sound, Yusaku grabbed Takeru and Aoi’s hands in his and just about dragged them from the truck, giggling like a tiny maniac, the slightly too big duel disk sliding around his arm as he ran.

They bumbled and stumbled through the crowd, Yusaku giggling excitedly as he held their hands in a surprisingly strong grip for a tiny 6 year old.

“Homura-kun, have you ever seen Fujiki-kun laugh before, or smile?” asked Aoi.

Takeru shook his head, “Laugh no, not that I can think of. And smile? Not like this. And believe me, Ai and I have tried.”

“It must have really hit him hard. The Incident I mean. After all I’ve seen you smile and laugh, and Miyu-chan smiles and laughs all the time. But Fujiki-kun…” she looked down at the giggling, smiling boy between them. “Maybe this, whatever it is, was a blessing in disguise. I mean, look at him. He looks so happy.”

Takeru smiled, “Well, let’s keep it that way.”

The park was a modest thing, it had a small jungle gym with climbing bars, a sliding pole, a couple slides of various heights and styles, one enclosed and the other open. To one side were a set of swings and in between was a small merry-go-round.

With a tight grip on their hands, Yusaku dragged Takeru and Aoi towards the swings.

“I’ve always wanted to go on swings before, can you guys push me?”

“Have you never been?” asked Aoi.

Yusaku shook his head sadly. “I need someone to push me on them, and I never have anyone to push me.”

Takeru smiled, “Well, now you have two people.”

Yusaku practically vibrated with excitement between them as the trio made their way to the swing set. Letting go of their hands, Yusaku clambered into the nearest swing, wrapping his little hands around the chains of the swing.

“So which one of us is going to push him?” asked Takeru.

“We could take turns? I’m sure Yusaku won’t mind, right?”

He grinned widely, swinging his feet back and forth in excitement. “As long as someone pushes me.”

Aoi took the first turn, taking the swing between her hands and slowly pulling it back a bit before letting go.

Yusaku giggled as he swung forward, kicking his feet back and forth. “Higher, higher, higher!”

Takeru and Aoi stood on either side of him, taking turns pushing him each time he came within reach of their hands.

Takeru couldn’t help but to wonder if Yusaku would remember any of this when, whatever this was, ended and he returned to normal. Of course if he did remember he’s likely barricade himself in his house and never leave.

From inside the duel disk on Yusaku’s wrist he could hear Ai cheering as well, his head and arms just barely sticking out of the surface.

“It’s like we’re flying!” he said as the swing went higher and higher with each push.

Yusaku screeched with laughter, throwing his head back happily. Then, as he was pushed forward again he suddenly let go and launched himself into the air and out of the swing’s seat.

Aoi and Takeru could only watch in horror as the small 6 year old they were supposed to be watching went airborne before landing in the sand with a thud.

“Yusaku! Yusaku are you ok?”

Yusaku rolled over, giggling as he looked up at them, seemingly oblivious to the looks of concern on their faces. “That was fun!”

“Whoo hoo, nice jump!” cheered Ai as Yusaku sat up and started brushing himself off, apparently unbothered by the whole chain of events.

Scrambling to his feet while Aoi and Takeru continued to fuss over him, the pair trying to make sure he was not in fact hurt in any way, he turned and made a beeline for the rest of the play equipment.

 

“So, you have no idea what caused this?” asked Ryoken, leaning back in his chair.

Shoichi shook his head, “Nope. Takeru came here this morning with Yusaku and he was already like that. And according to both him and Ai that’s how Yusaku was when he woke up.”

“And your solution to this was to call us to babysit, instead of trying to figure out what happened?”

“Hey,” he pointed the greasy tongs at him. “Some of us have to work for a living and can’t just drop everything and rearrange their schedule at the drop of a hat. I figure let him have his fun today and tomorrow if he’s still, little, we can work on figuring out what happened and how to undo it then. Besides, it’s not like it’s hurting him, let him enjoy himself for once.”

Ryoken sighed as he stood up, Specter following suit behind him. “Alright. But if this continues we will be looking into what happened. This isn’t exactly, normal.”

Shoichi grinned, “Who knows, perhaps he was visited by some kind of yokai.”

“Please, we all know yokai don’t exist.”

 

Giggling, tired and a touch dirty was the state Yusaku was in when the group finally returned to Shoichi, Yusaku once again sandwiched between Aoi and Takeru. There was dirt on his face and clothes and he wore the biggest grin that Shoichi had ever seen, and seemed to be trying to hide the fact that he was yawning every few seconds.

“Well, I think it’s safe to say someone enjoyed themselves,” he said, leaning on the counter of the truck. “You ready to go home Yusaku?”

“Aww, already?”

“‘Fraid so. After all, Takeru and Aoi need to get home before their families start to worry.”

Yusaku looked up at them sadly and they nodded in confirmation that yes, they did have to start heading on home.

“Don’t worry squirt, now that I’m done for the evening it’s my turn to hang out with you.” He looked Yusaku up and down, “And get you a bath first, you’re filthy.”

“Yeah you may want to shake him out, there’s sand everywhere,” said Ai. “He must have half the park in there.”

“Well, I suppose we’re making a stop at my place then, to get those clothes in the laundry and you in a bath.”

“Aww.” Yusaku pouted as Shoichi scooped him up, almost slinging him over one shoulder in the process.

“Don’t worry Fujiki-kun, we’ll see you tomorrow,” said Aoi with a smile.

“She’s right, but so’s Kusanagi-san, we really do have to get going.” Takeru reached over and ruffled Yusaku’s hair lightly before waving goodbye.

Shoichi stopped beside the truck and looked between the front seat and Yusaku a few times. He probably shouldn’t have been putting Yusaku in without some kind of booster seat, but the only other option was putting him in the back and that was even more dangerous for him, at least up front he could be buckled in. So he was just going to have to hope that the short drive to his place was uneventful, and that no one noticed that he was carrying a small child in the front seat.

He was careful as he buckled Yusaku in, adjusting the seat belt so it wouldn’t get in his face or dig into his neck.

“So you DON’T sleep in the truck?” asked Yusaku, looking up at him.

Shoichi sighed, apparently Yusaku hadn’t forgotten that joke at least. It had always been something of a joke that Shoichi lived and slept in the truck, after all he worked in it and spent a lot of time in it for his hacking duties. But truthfully he did have a small place to live and sleep in, a small apartment to be exact.

It was a little larger than Yusaku’s unit, having a small kitchen area and bathroom as well as a small balcony, rather than the dorm-like set up that Yusaku had.

The only truth to the joke was that he had on occasion just crashed in the truck for the night, mainly due to being up late scouring the web and working and just being too tired to drive home when he was finally finished, but once he’d actually lived out of it for a while when the entire apartment had to be evacuated due to a burst pipe.

He almost never had anyone over as the apartment was small, though Yusaku had stayed over once when the heating in his own place went out in the dead middle of winter.

Not that Yusaku could remember that in his current state. As far as he was concerned this was new and exciting.

“Hey, no running on ahead,” said Shoichi as Yusaku slipped past him the moment he undid his seat belt once they reached his apartment. “Not like you know which place is mine.”

“This whole building isn’t yours?” asked Yusaku as he came to a stop.

Shoichi laughed, “I wish. No I just have one of the units, which you can’t get in without me anyways cause I have the key. So hold up.” He locked the truck up quickly before running after Yusaku. “Come on,” he said, taking Yusaku by the hand. “This way.”

Clinging to his hand, Yusaku followed him up a flight of stairs and to his small apartment.

As they stepped inside he carefully wiggled out of his shoes and Shoichi could see the sand trail forming behind him.

“Ai what did he do, roll in it?” asked Shoichi as he helped Yusaku out of his jacket.

“Pretty much.”

Shoichi sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, Yusaku definitely needed a bath and everything needed to be thrown in the laundry.

“You live here?” asked Yusaku as he trotted into the main room, looking around. “It’s so messy.”

“Hey! It’s not that bad, I’ve just been busy,” he said, hanging up his jacket and hoodie before following Yusaku. “Now come on, you need a bath little mister.”

“Aww, I don’t want a bath.”

“Well I can’t exactly hose you off, so a bath it is.” He scooped him up, tucking him under one arm as he carried him towards the small bathroom. “Why don’t we compromise, I’ll make sure your hair gets done and you can wash the rest of you, sound good?”

Yusaku looked thoughtful for a moment before looking up at him, “Can I wash you too?”

Shoichi blinked, “But I’m not getting a bath, you are.”

“Can’t we both?”

Damn, Yusaku had him there. He had been planning on a shower later, after all he smelled like a hotdog grill everything that went along with that.

“Can Ai take a bath too?” asked Yusaku, holding up the duel disk, which Shoichi had definitely not seen him remove up until that moment.

“That is going to be a hard no, I don’t think he’s waterproof,” he said, setting Yusaku down and taking the duel disk from him to set aside. “And I don’t think he can swim either.”

“Besides, who wants to see your weird, naked human bodies?” asked Ai. “Gross.”

With Yusaku exploring the small bathroom, Shoichi began drawing the bath, filling the tub up and making sure the soap and shampoo were at the ready.

“Just put your clothes in a pile so I can throw them in the laundry alright?” he said as he dipped a hand into the water to check the temperature. While he may have liked his baths anywhere from warm to hot, he didn’t want to burn Yusaku.

“Yeah ok.”

Shoichi stopped, the voice had come from right beside him. Turning his head, he found himself staring at a very naked Yusaku, his clothes held in a heap in his arms.

“Where should I put the pile though?” he asked. “And can I go in the tub yet?”

Some scrambling later, he’d wrapped Yusaku in a towel while they waited for the tub to fill and had stuffed his sandy clothes into the small washing machine on the balcony before going back to see if the tub was ready yet.

As he opened the door he was greeted by the sound of splashing water and the sight of Yusaku leaning over the tub to stick his hands in.

He laughed and reached over to turn the taps off. “Alright, I guess it’s time for you to get it.”

Without waiting for him to continue, Yusaku scrambled into the tub, tossing the towel on the floor and almost falling in as he hauled himself over the edge.

Shoichi laughed as he reached for the shampoo, well at least Yusaku seemed to enjoy the idea of a bath. The same certainly couldn’t be said for Jin at that age, he loathed them.

The bath went smoothly enough, Shoichi handing him a washcloth and soap to clean himself with, and hopefully keep him occupied while he washed his hair. Of course, nothing ever lasts and the peaceful bath was interrupted as a wave of soapy warm water suddenly crested the edge of the tub, soaking Shoichi completely.

Yusaku giggled as Shoichi sputtered, having half stumbled, half jumped back in shock as he was doused in water.

“Yusaku!”

“Your turn now!”

“Apparently. I hope that splashing means you finished scrubbing yourself down,” he said, pointing to the soap and cloth he’d given Yusaku earlier.

He peeled himself out of his now wet clothes, wrapped a towel around his waist and sat down on the edge of the tub, feet in the water, to finish rinsing the suds out of Yusaku’s hair.

With Yusaku cleaned, and himself half wet and already partly in the tub, Shoichi opted to finish washing himself off as well, no sense drying off only to get wet later on.

With a final spritz from the shower head to wash off any remaining soap bubbles from the both of them, bathtime had finally come to and end, which meant it was time to hunt down a bathrobe for himself and find something to put Yusaku in till his clothes finished getting washed and dried, as Shoichi really didn’t want a butt naked 6 year old running around his apartment.

Shoichi found one of the largest, fluffiest towels he owned and swaddled Yusaku in it like some kind of child burrito.

“You stay and dry off while I check on the laundry,” he said, wrapping a dry towel around his waist before stepping out of the bathroom.

He’d always intended to have Jin come live with him once he was able to leave the hospital, it wasn’t like Jin had anyone else to take him in, so he’d always kept the house ready just in case, which included some spare clothes for him, folded up and tucked away. They were bound to be far to big for Yusaku, but they’d probably do for the rest of the night and would certainly fit him better than any of his clothes.

He pulled Yusaku’s stuff out of the washer and hung it to dry before vanishing into his room for his own clothes and to find Yusaku something to wear.

Dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants and with the smallest clothes he could find in one hand, Shoichi headed back to the bathroom.

“Hey Yusaku?” He looked around and found him sitting on the floor against the wall, still bundled up and looking a touch sleepy.

“At this rate you’re going to fall asleep before dinner,” he said, grabbing the duel disk from the counter and scooping Yusaku up from the floor, Yusaku nestling into the crook of his shoulder comfortably.

A tiny smile tugged on his lips as he carried his half asleep charge out, Yusaku must have been more worn out than he’d first thought.

“So I take it you had fun today?” he asked as he set Yusaku down and began towelling off his hair.

“It was awesome. Did you see me beat Kogami-san at duel monsters earlier?” he asked with a lopsided grin. “It was awesome. I think he went easy on me though.”

“Did he now?”

“Uh-huh, but it was fun. And I have just, so many friends, it’s so cool.”

“Well I’m glad you had fun-lift your arms for me please, thank you.” He carefully slid a slightly oversized sweater down over Yusaku’s head and arms, the sleeves falling past his hands a fair bit. “Ah well, it’ll have to do.” As he helped Yusaku up to finish dressing him he felt a twinge of nostalgia, remembering all the times his own parents had done this with him and Jin, and he wondered if Yusaku had ever had anyone do this for him before. He didn’t know much about his family situation, Yusaku never talked about it. For all he knew Yusaku’s parents were both alive and working out of the country all the time.

With the pants and sleeves both rolled up the clothing only looked, slightly to big on Yusaku. But it wasn’t like they were going anywhere for the rest of the night, it was already past 5 o’clock and with how sleepy Yusaku was looking he would probably be out by 6 or 6:30, so there wasn’t much point in driving all the way back to Yusaku’s place.

“Think you can stay awake long enough for some dinner?” asked Shoichi.

“It’s not gonna be hot dogs is it?” asked Yusaku.

Shoichi laughed and ruffled his hair with one hand, “Naw. Besides I can cook more than just that.”

“Cool.”

Dinner was remarkably quiet, Yusaku diving right into his food after a quick thank you.

Shoichi couldn’t help but to smile as he watched Yusaku. The last time he’d dealt with a child this young was when Jin had been the same age, of course he’d been considerably younger as well.

The memory sent a twinge of sadness through him, that was also the last time all of them had really been a family.

He ruffled Yusaku’s hair with one hand before gathering up the empty dishes to be washed.

The next time he looked over, Yusaku was beginning to nod off, arms folded under his head as he leaned on the table.

“Hmm, I guess that’s a sign it’s time for bed,” he said, tossing aside the cloth he was holding.

Yusaku just mumbled sleepily and rubbed his eyes as he sat there.

Carefully, Shoichi scooped him up, Yusaku flopping against his chest and instinctively wrapping his arms around his neck to cling to him. Shoichi smiled and smoothed his hair with one hand, humming quietly as he carried him towards the bedroom.

Unlike Yusaku’s place which had an actual bed, Shoichi only owned a futon.

As he set Yusaku down it became clear that the kid had a very tight grip on him and didn’t want to let go, it was like having a tiny koala clinging to him.

“Don’t wanna be alone,” mumbled Yusaku as he hung on.

“If I get you something else to cuddle, will you let go?” asked Shoichi. While the idea of keeping Yusaku close, keeping him protected and safe, was an appealing one, there were still things he had to get done before bed, and he couldn’t do them with Yusaku hanging off him.

“Like what?”

Using the momentary distraction, Shoichi freed himself from Yusaku’s grip and set him down on the futon before straightening up again.

He left the room only to come back about a minute later holding a well loved looking teddy in one hand, the duel disk in the other.

“He will keep you company for the night,” said Shoichi, slipping the bear into Yusaku’s arms and setting the duel disk on the floor beside the futon. “And he will watch over you. Now sleep.”

As he pulled the covers up and over him, Shoichi leaned down and pressed a kiss to Yusaku’s forehead before he even realized what he was doing. Yusaku didn’t appear to mind or react though as he wiggled under the blankets comfortably.

“Goodnight...Tou-san.”

Shoichi had just barely reached the door when he heard Yusaku’s sleepy voice and he froze as the words reached his ears.

Tou-san, that’s what Yusaku had called him, albeit in a sleepy, barely awake state. Why had he called him that? Was he just sleepy and mistook him for his actual parent? Had he really been acting that much like a parent to him? And why did the thought make him feel, warm inside?

He shook his head as he closed the door, there was no sense dwelling on those thoughts, after all it wasn’t like this was going to be permanent.

Besides, him, as a dad, what a ridiculous notion. He quickly shook the thoughts off and went to finish cleaning up.

 

It was quiet, that was the first thing Yusaku was aware of when he woke up. Which was strange because it was never that quiet in his apartment, between the sound of traffic outside, the rumble of Roboppy’s motor and the rattling of pipes there was always some kind of background noise. But this was quiet, almost to quiet.

The second thing he was aware of was the fact that he was not sleeping in his bed, in fact he was on the floor, on a futon by the feel of it. Which was strange because he definitely remembered going to sleep in his own bed.

He blinked away the sleep, rubbing at his eyes to try and clear his vision to get a better idea of his surroundings, as they felt familiar somehow. A loud snore came from his left and he rolled over, and it suddenly became clear why the place was familiar.

Kusanagi was fast asleep on another futon beside him, which meant this was his place.

“Was it not just a dream?” he wondered as he sat up. No, it had to be, there was no way that had been real. But at the same time, he was here, in the same place he’d been in his dream.

“Ohh Yusaku you’re awake.” Ai popped up and out of the screen of the duel disk. “Sleep well?”

“I-” Yusaku stopped, he had actually slept well, in fact that had to be one of the most restful sleeps he’d had in a long time. “Yeah. Did everything yesterday, actually happen? It’s all kinda fuzzy.”

“You turned into a little kid for the whole day!” Ai waved his arms in the air as he spoke. “So yeah it all happened.”

“But how? That isn’t, that doesn’t just happen?”

Ai shrugged, “Who knows. But looks like you’re normal again.”

“Mmm, who’s making all that racket?” mumbled a sleepy Kusanagi, rubbing his eyes as he sat up. “Oh, Yusaku.”

“Good morning Kusanagi-san.”

“Well it looks like we won’t have to spend the day trying to figure out what happened to you after all,” he said as he stretched his arms out, over his head. “Seeing how you’re back to normal.”

“It’s strange though,” said Yusaku, looking down at his hands. “Before, all that happened, I was putting together my deck for school, and wishing I could enjoy Duel Monsters the way everyone else does, the way I used to.”

“Well maybe something or someone heard your wish. You sure seemed to be enjoying yourself yesterday.” Kusanagi stretched out his back as he stood up. “I’ll go find you something better fitting to wear, then I’ll get started on breakfast, sound good?”

Yusaku nodded and as Kusanagi made his way to the door, spoke up again. “Kusanagi-san, thank you. For everything.”

He just grinned and rubbed the back of his head. “You’re welcome Yusaku. I’m always glad to help.”

 

Yusaku was eventually returned to his own apartment, where Roboppy was anxiously waiting for him, worried when he hadn’t come home the night before, but happy to see him nonetheless.

**Author's Note:**

> no I don't know how he got de-aged. Duel Monster spirit magic I suppose.


End file.
